07-21-97 Virginia Beach Amphitheater

Phish Live Shows
#1

07-21-97 Virginia Beach Amphitheater, Virginia Beach, VA

1: Ghost, Dogs Stole Things, Piper, Dirt, Ginseng Sullivan, Bathtub Gin*, Character Zero

2: Wolfman’s Brother-> Magilla, David Bowie^, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Theme From the Bottom#±> Funky Bitch#, Slave to the Traffic Light

E: Loving Cup

*At the end, Trey welcomes the beginning of the U.S. Summer Tour after time spent in Europe, mockingly chanting “USA! USA! USA!” He then introduced the new songs to the American crowd. ^With “Birdland” (Weather Report) tease during high-hat intro. #With Leroi Moore of Dave Matthews Band on sax. +With Multi-Instrument Jam (Leroi with 2 saxes, Trey with 3 guitars and Fish’s cymbals (running around like a madman on stage), and Mike with 2 basses. Meanwhile Fish was playing with multiple (somewhere between 6 and 8) drum sticks while Page was laying on his keyboards trying to play as many as he could and banging on them like a madman.).

#2

This show is radical. What a way to make a big return to the US after two European tours, a whole slew of new tunes and an almost complete overhaul on their ‘sound’. By this time since the NYE 96 run the funk had been perfected and you can just feel the itch they had to bring it back to the states. The Ghost tour opener is spot on and one of the best tour opening tunes I can recall. Then they bust out a few of the new tunes for the US crowd and then dig right back into the dirty funk in an amazing Bathtub Gin. A raging Character Zero closes the first set and they get right back to the juiciness with a gnarly Wolfman’s->Magilla. They played Magilla a few weeks prior in Europe and both of these versions come out as some sort of funky jazz number thanks to Gordo’s funky slap bass on the US debut of the Modulus. This Bowie gets pretty evil and has a nice jam. I have never really liked Velvet Sea and those these early versions feature some nice guitar solos, they are too slow and seem to drag. But then things just get ultra-weird with the Theme madness. I’m sure it was super awesome to witness, but the last couple minutes of the jam don’t translate well onto tape. But it doesn’t really detract from the show as they tear up a Funky Bitch right afterward. This Slave is rather standard…the first few minutes of the jam are really mellow and pretty, but they never really reach that peak that they needed to to end the tune with a bang. But, still a great show, and an awesome tour opener.

#3

The Bathtub Gin is super funky. Must hear imo, with some fantastic fills from Page and incredible locked in jamming.

#4

James Brown sat in!

#5

They have obviously not stolen Fishman’s soul